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Loading... The Gargoyleby Andrew Davidson
1   fyrefly98 | Sep 23, 2008 | 
A former porn star who is recovering from a rogalian car accident befriends a sculptor who is convinced that he and she were lovers in medieval Germany. It's a shame this book never really caught on, because it's very good. The prose is sometimes a tad purple, but it fits with the narrator's voice. This is a decidedly Gothic novel, my dears, and the tone is spot-on. Most reviews seem to emphasize what a sleezebag the dude is. (He's never named, by the way. Davidson sometimes resorts to rather elaborate measures to ensure that his name won't enter into things). And you know what? He is a sleezebag. He's an addict. He makes a living by writing, directing and acting in pornos. His main hobby is seducing regular (read: non-porn star) women. He spends much of his time in the burn ward lamenting his lost beauty and planning an elaborate suicide. He lashes out at anyone who tries to help him. But you know what else? He's also personable and easy to like. He writes from the heart. He's frank about what he's done and how it's affected him. He goes to great lengths to tell us how cynical he is, but I get the impression he's mostly trying to convince himself. He's not nearly as bad as he wants us to think he is. And deny it though he might, he really does grow as a person as the book roles along. The supporting characters are also pretty durned interesting. Nan, Gregor and Sayuri each begin as caricatures, because that's how the cynical, world-hating narrator wants to see them. As he grows to know them, though, they become real people with their own pressing concerns. I loved all the little ways the narrator pushed and prodded them. And Marianne, his seven-hundred-year-old lover, is a treat from the very beginning. She's a fascinating character. Is she mad? Is she really seven hundred years old? The narrator says no, but his story tells us that he's not so sure. Marianne herself tells her story with absolute conviction. She never wavers, even when faced with doubt from all sides. She's also responsible for all the historical stories woven in and around the narrator's own tale. She tells them the story of their life together, of course, but she also shares love stories featuring some of her friends--said friends being Italian, English, Japanese and Icelandic ghosts. The three storylines--the narrator's experiences, the historical love stories and Marianne's reminiscences--blend together very nicely. I was simultaneously sad when one storyline left off and pleased because I got to return to another. I also appreciated the context here. Davidson has a concrete context for the book, and the narrator's approach reflects this. I always appreciate authors who take context into account. I definitely recommend this. I didn't find it as OMG AMAZING as most of the internet, but I had a wonderful time with it. I think you will, too. (A slightly different version of this review originally appeared on my blog, Stella Matutina). (  ) xicanti | Nov 26, 2009 | Oh, the angst of it all, blah, blah, blah. (  ) picardyrose | Nov 10, 2009 | The opening of this novel with a horrific and detailed car crash that leaves the driver covered in first to fourth degree burns is enough to capture the reader and keep you emursed in this strange and twisted tale of love, romance and intrigue. While recovering in hospital, he is visited by a psychiatric patient, Marianne Engle, who tells him they have met before in a previous life. And he has been burned, again. Engle is in the hospital herself in the psych ward begins to tell him stories that span lifetimes and entertain him enough that his main thoughts aren't about suicide. Andrew Davidson twists her stories into this amazing book to keep you motivated not to put it down. Davidson's descriptive writing makes you feel as if you are making some of the amazing journeys with Marianne as she tells her stories through his recovery process. This is a novel that once you start reading it you can't put it down until you finish. (  ) Sunflower6_Cris | Nov 6, 2009 | A truly visceral read. Andrew Davidson has a great style that grabs the reader and won't let them go until the story is told. I especially liked juxtaposition between Gregor and Sayuri's romance alongside the main love story. Two different sides of the same coin. A unique and scintillating book. (  ) carmelitasita29 | Nov 3, 2009 | strange book (  )1 |  mizcat | Oct 16, 2009 | I didn't really expect to like this book, but it's become one of those works that sticks with me. Something about it reminded me of The Lovely Bones, although I couldn't tell you why. Well-written enough that the very unusual plot didn't bother me; I hardly noticed how mysterious Marianne's story was until further reflection. I had to return it to the library today, but I almost started rereading it first. ( )1 Jaie22 | Oct 11, 2009 | Mozzarella commando - need I say more? ( ) victoria.caplinger | Oct 7, 2009 | I had seen and avoided this book for a long time. It seemed to have had great reviews but just didn't seem to be "my kind of book" as it just seemed a little too weird for me. It still isn't my kind of book but it is one of those books that I'll remember for a very long time. It grabs your attention from the first few pages with a gripping technical discussion of the impact of burning on the human body and doesn't let go as you try and figure out whether one of the lead characters is mental, an angel, both, or other. ( )1 ptilidium | Sep 18, 2009 | This is one complicated tale that will make you believe in anything. Told skilfully with a first person narration, the author's impressive narrative skills tell an unlikely story of one man's personal quest. Readers are immersed into one wildly romantic, macabre and seductive fantasy. The novel opens with a horrific car crash, leaving the driver covered in first to fourth degree burns. While recovering in hospital, he is visited by a psychiatric patient, Marianne Engle, who believes they have met before in a previous life. Engle who is officially diagnosed as a paranoid schizophrenic entertains him with story after story that span lifetimes. Her tales alone will have you turning page after page as Davidson masterfully weaves the stories into our victim's recovery. This amazing tale has great characterization with a descriptive writing technique that paints a rich canvas in ones mind. This is one intense, gripping, captivating and powerful novel. ( )3 Tigerpaw70 | Sep 11, 2009 | A young man is fighting for his life. Into his room walks a bewitching woman who believes she can save him. Their journey will have you believing in the impossible. You should never judge a book by its cover but look how pretty this book is. The edges of each page are stained black (there is a reason for that) which I found quite cool. I always choose a book from a massive list of recommendations from forums etc and I must admit when choosing this one I went on looks alone. I already knew that I would like it. The narrator (who remains nameless) is involved in a car crash, causing him to roll down a hill and then sit trapped in his car as his skin 'starts to boil.' He wakes up in hospital burnt from head to toe. He is completely hopeless until he meets Marianne Engel and she helps him back to health in her own unique way. It is a very touching and engaging book. A perfect mix of love and fantasy. Parts were slightly disturbing as the narrative is unrelenting but I came to care for the characters. I found myself reading it at every possible opportunity and since this is a debut novel, I really look forward to reading more from this author. ( )2 MuggleMagic | Sep 11, 2009 | The Gargoyle grabbed me from the first pages but the first pages were nothing compared to the depth of this book. The stories within the story were fascinating. I almost wonder if it really was "real". I absolutely LOVED the last chapter! Extremely well done! I loved it! ( ) LASMIT | Sep 4, 2009 | Love transcends time, mistakes, deformities and self loathing in this amazing book. A beautiful love story, but not like any i've ever read before. It grabs your attention from the first extremely descriptive chapter, from there it captures your heart, and won't let go. ( ) MidnightDreamer | Aug 27, 2009 | This is the story of a disreputable man (a pornographer/drug addict) who gets seriously burned in a car crash. While in the hospital, he meets Marianne Engel, an unusual and possibly disturbed artist, a sculpter of gargoyles. Marianne assists in his long and painful recovery while telling him fantastic and tragic love stories of their past lives together. This is an intriguing story of eternal love and redemption told in remarkable if, at times, somewhat pretentious prose. Recommended. ( ) loriephillips | Aug 23, 2009 | I became aware of this author from a very recent-- ttbook.org --interview; he read part of his first chapter. I'm a bit stuffy whereas regarding what I like. I very much enjoyed this. I feel I must next read Inferno. ( ) fatclamenza | Aug 22, 2009 | I was immediately gripped by the opening chapters of this book, in which a man in his 30s is involved in a gruesome car crash that changes his appearance - and his life - beyond recognition. Our unnamed narrator is a difficult bugger, but he's having a hard time. In his previous life of hedonism, he relied on his physical beauty and sexual prowess for income and pleasure. After the accident, none of this will be possible for him ever again (male readers beware that the 'euwww' factor goes up a notch!). I found these chapters quite affecting - aren't we all guilty of vanity? How would you feel if you became unrecognisable, and indeed grotesque? Very sobering stuff. The cynical and miserable protagonist reluctantly faces a long period of rehabilitation in a hospital burns unit, and soon encounters a mysterious woman named Marianne Engel who claims that they have known each other in a former life. She becomes a regular visitor to his room, telling him beautifully romantic but ultimately tragic tales of love and loss and devotion, including the story of their own previous life together. But is she telling the truth? This is a book heavy in symbolism. Gargoyles are variously described as being used to eject the water used for washing sacred vessels, and as being protection against evil spirits. And if you haven't already read Dante's Inferno, you'll soon want to. Admittedly some of the symbolism isn't so subtle: mere pages after we are told how lemurs got their name, we discover that Marianne lives in Lemuria Street, and the narrator's washing of Marianne as she carves hammers us over the head with his gargoyle attributes. However. Neither this, nor the religious thread that runs through The Gargoyle lessens the impact of the tale. It is about personal hells and redemption and the meaning of beauty and love. I found it moving and thought-provoking and would recommend it in an instant. ( )1 deargreenplace | Jul 31, 2009 | Very graphic but very interesting! The book covers an eclectic mix of topics from the treatment of burns to ancient scriptology. (  ) nancam | Jul 29, 2009 | I really enjoyed this book. I knew nothing about it when I picked it up so there were no expectations. It took me a while to get into, initially I struggled with the protaganist but his frank outlook and honesty really pulled me in. I agree with some other reviewers who have mentioned it was hard leaving one storyline, as some of them were so captivating you just didn't want it to end. I saved the last couple of chapters and finished it off yesterday, but it did leave me a little flat I must say. I didn't mind it being an uncertain ending, but some of the mysticsim was lost for me. Overall a great read though. ald_melb | Jul 28, 2009 | I quite enjoyed this book as I came to it without any expectations. It tells the story of a creep whose life is transformed following a car crash and his encounter with a mentally ill woman. I liked the way the author encourages us to believe in the possibility of rehabilitation and challenges us to rethink our preconceived notions. A fun read. ( ) Scrat | Jul 28, 2009 | I came to this book with few expectations, other than I had heard it recommended very enthusiastically on the CBC, and even after perusing the back of it I still didn't really know what I was getting into, or what a great read I was in for. Davidson tells the story through his nameless protagonist, a drug addict and drunk who made his living as a pornographer (on both sides of the lens) prior to an horrific car accident that lands him in the burn ward. The narrative is also told by Marianne Engel, a possibly mad woman that finds him in the hospital, tells him she's known him for 700 years, and then proceeds to spins stories of her past, their shared past, and love stories from different eras and cultures. As others have said, this is a story of redemption. Through Marianne's stories, and because of her devotion to the main character, he defeats many of his demons and becomes a better person. He is devoted to her in turn, as is shown in his concern for and treatment of Marianne during her increasingly manic periods. The only part of this book that I didn't love was the main character's journey through hell while he is withdrawing from morphine. Perhaps I need to pick up my mythology books and re-read Dante before I can understand everything that's going on there. Aside from that, however, I loved this book and had difficulty putting it down. I found that most reviews of this book are so polarized, from discussions of the story itself to complaints about writing style, that it is impossible for people to get a clear idea of what the book is about or its degree of quality, and I recommend that readers pick this book up and make their own decisions. ( ) kjhill45 | Jul 6, 2009 | I did not love this as much as I expected. I think because I prefer a more straight forward narrative. I get caught up in one story line and don't want to leave it. ( ) alyson | Jul 2, 2009 | I did not love this as much as I expected. I think because I prefer a more straight forward narrative. I get caught up in one story line and don't want to leave it. ( ) alyson | Jul 2, 2009 | This book is a page-turner with plenty of action and romance. The characters are memorable, and the plot is imaginative. Ultimately, this is a book about redemption. Like many other reviewers, I especially liked the honesty of the protagonist, and the stories within the story, which are well done, set in different countries and time periods, tied together by the theme of love that never dies And, I'm also part of the significant miniority that had problems with the love story between Marianne Engle and the narrator in the present time. There doesn't seem to be a lot of interest in each other's present beyond physical well-being. And, Marianne was pretty unbelievable with her beauty, talent and bottomless bank account. I did appreciate that it was left a bit unclear whether she really had known the narrator in past lives, or whether she was mentally ill. All in all, a great, entertaining read. ( ) LynnB | Jun 25, 2009 | Breakin it down story 6/10 characters 7/10 addictiveness 4/10 readability 7/10 Big total 6 outta 10 ( ) sweetbookdelights | Jun 22, 2009 | I picked this book up knowing nothing about it, because I liked the cover. Upon further investigation, and reading the first dozen pages or so, I have decided not to read it. It's well written and everything, but just not for me. It's too... melodramatic, I guess. I read the description to my brother this morning over breakfast and he snorted milk out his nose. Let me just say that the book seems to be well-written and if this sounds like something you would like, I encourage you to check it out. I still sort of want to buy this book and put it on my shelf because I like the cover so much, but I doubt I will read it. vanedow | Jun 5, 2009 | As strong as death and as hard as hell: That's what the German mystic Meister Eckehart said about love. And you can just easily say the same thing about this book. This is a must read for everyone who has ever asked him/herself the question: What would I be ready to do for love? (  ) DieterBoehm | May 22, 2009 | |
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Review: There has been so much positive buzz surrounding this book that it seems a little bit of overkill to add my voice to the choir, but I will say this: All of that positive buzz is well and truly deserved. It was apparent to me from the first few pages that this was not your average first novel... or even your average novel, period. What grabbed me right from the get-go was how recognizable and relatable everything was. I'm not a coke-addled porn star, nor have I ever been seriously burned, but the cynical, skeptical, sarcastic narrator's voice felt immediately familiar, and the fact that our narrator has to suspend his disbelief with Marianne makes it easier for the reader to make the similar leap. The writing is powerful and frank, and although occasionally the imagery misses the mark (the "mozzarella commando" line highlighted by the negative review on EW.com is no less silly in context), thankfully these missteps are rare, and in general Davidson uses his language like a scapel - sharp and incisive, and at times brutally so. At the same time, the sections told in Marianne's voice are believably different, and flow in a different rhythm that mirrors her personality. There's a point a bit more than halfway where the pacing falters - the characters get into a bit of a holding pattern, and I wasn't sure how Davidson was going to carry the story to the ending, but even so, I never got the impression of the book dragging; I devoured it regardless.
Personally, I think what made this book so powerful and so moving is that is a book about redemption, and which has a very strong religious (specifically, Christian/Catholic) element, but the narrator's redemption is not a religious one. There's a subtle line between a spiritual journey and a religious journey, and that distinction doesn't always get recognized, especially in novels with such heavy religious themes (apart from Marianne being a nun and hearing the voice of the Christian God, Dante's Inferno features prominently). In The Gargoyle, however, the narrator's redemption doesn't come from "finding God", or any religious conversion, but from something more subtle and more personal - and therefore ultimately more accessible and more powerful for the reader. 4.5 out of 5 stars.
Recommendation: Beautifully crafted, intense, and insightful, The Gargoyle is going to feel the most familiar to readers of historical fiction, but it's not so simply categorized, and it's good enough that it shouldn't be missed by readers of any genre. I'll be looking forward to Davidson's next book, for sure.